Chargers’ roster is a bit more ready

No. 2, Smith had to get an enormous human being to play nose tackle. He found one in Saturday’s fifth round, when he drafted North Carolina State’s Cam Thomas, all 6-4, 335 pounds of him. They say he can lift tractor engines.

Thomas slipped in this draft, primarily because he has been known to take time off during games. But that’s not unusual for huge college D linemen, who generally find themselves on the field much more than they are in the pros.

“He was a bit inconsistent,” Smith says, “and, unfortunately for the young man it caused him to slip in the draft. I’m sure he’s aware of it and I’m sure the rest of the league is aware of it. But you shoot high and cover your bases.

“The most important thing I learned from Jimmy Johnson — and I’ve learned a lot from Jimmy Johnson — is to get the player you want. We got the player we wanted.”

Smith also wanted an inside linebacker, so he moved up to get Washington’s Donald Butler in the third round. He wanted a safety who can run, so he drafted Kansas’ Darrell Stuckey in the fourth. He wanted a No. 3 quarterback, so he took Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton with his second fifth-round pick. He wanted a tight end, so he used his seventh-round choice on Miami’s Dedrick Epps.

It hardly was an enormous draft in numbers. But Smith isn’t like New England’s Bill Belichick (12 picks), who stockpiles players and then just tosses the ones he doesn’t like.

“With our roster what it is, I don’t know what I’d do with that many players,” Smith says.

The Chargers are not without need, but their needs are fewer than the great majority of NFL teams. Now it’s a matter of getting out of the second floor and onto the roof.

“One day,” Smith says, “I hope we can all say: “We got it right. Son of a gun. ”